General Assembly - UN Documents
General Assembly - UN Documents
General Assembly - UN Documents
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A/CONF.216/PC/7<br />
producers and consumers, public policy for a green economy extends well beyond<br />
“getting prices right”. If it does not, there is little chance that a green economy in<br />
the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication will be up to the<br />
task at hand of fundamentally shifting consumption and production patterns onto a<br />
more sustainable path. Governments have a critical role to play in financing green<br />
research and development and infrastructure investments and in providing a<br />
supportive policy environment for green investments by the private sector and for<br />
the development of dynamic green growth sectors. They also have a crucial role to<br />
play in ensuring that green economy policies support employment and income<br />
generation for the poor and vulnerable.<br />
14. It has been noted by numerous Member States (India and others) that green<br />
economy does not “supplant” or substitute for sustainable development but rather is<br />
best understood as a means to achieving the end of sustainable development. It has<br />
also been stressed (India) that green economy should preserve “ample flexibility and<br />
space for national authorities to make their own choices and define their paths<br />
towards sustainable development based on national circumstances and priorities”.<br />
While these formulations help to clarify the relationship between the two concepts,<br />
it is only practical experience that can demonstrate the effectiveness of green<br />
economy strategies, policies and measures as accelerators towards sustainable<br />
development.<br />
B. Contribution of the green economy to growth and other<br />
economic objectives<br />
15. During the past century, aggregate consumption of raw materials has<br />
continuously increased; regular improvements in resource efficiency and pollution<br />
control technologies have not been large enough to offset the effect of the increase<br />
in the size of the global economy. 2 The need for a system of production and<br />
consumption that imposes significantly lower pressures on natural resource stocks<br />
and the environment is now widely recognized. The green economy in the context of<br />
sustainable development and poverty eradication has emerged as a framework for<br />
moving in that direction. While it holds promise, it also poses daunting challenges;<br />
both are described in the present section with respect to growth and the economy.<br />
16. The increased understanding of the risks posed by the current economic model<br />
arises at a time when many developing countries are on the threshold of major<br />
investments in energy, transport, waste, water and sanitation infrastructure, and<br />
sustained economic growth is seen as critical to the completion of the development<br />
transition. Would a green economy in the context of sustainable development and<br />
poverty eradication allow developing countries to complete their development<br />
transitions while laying the groundwork for sustaining high levels of human<br />
development for generations to come?<br />
17. At the global level, the main question is how a green economy transition<br />
would affect global growth rates and patterns. Would green growth be slower<br />
growth, merely growth of a different kind, or perhaps even faster progress towards<br />
human development goals — whether or not that translates into GDP growth as<br />
__________________<br />
2 Fridolin Krausmann and others, “Growth in global materials use, GDP and population during the<br />
20th century”, Ecological Economics, vol. 68, No. 10 (2009).<br />
10-70657<br />
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